Trudeau calls five byelections for April 3

Former PM Stephen Harper’s old riding among them

OTTAWA – Byelections will be held on April 3 to fill five vacant seats in the House of Commons, including the one formerly held by Stephen Harper.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has called the byelections for his Conservative predecessor’s riding of Calgary Heritage, as well as Calgary Midnapore, formerly held by one-time Harper minister Jason Kenney.

Kenney is now running for the leadership of Alberta’s Progressive Conservative party.

Byelections will also be held in the Montreal riding of Saint-Laurent and the Toronto-area riding of Markham-Thornhill, both of which were left vacant after veteran Liberal ministers Stephane Dion and John McCallum were named to plum diplomatic posts as part of a cabinet shuffle last month.

In addition to those four, Trudeau called an April 3 byelection for Ottawa-Vanier last weekend.

The seat has been vacant since the death last August of veteran Liberal MP Mauril Belanger from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.